katara 4 head chieftain

the best part of their young, emerging love - other than the fact that it is absolutely adorable - is that two airbenders falling in love almost two centuries after the air nomad genocide serves as a huge middle finger to sozin and his warmongering successors, who had attempted (and almost succeeded) in wiping out the peaceful, pacifist air nomads and the element of air (the element of freedom) from existence. the fact that the airbenders are here today, living in co-existence with the other nations (and the spirits!), whilst sozin’s plans of destroying the rest of the world had come to a screeching halt (his direct descendent being defeated by the last living survivor of the nation that he attempted to eliminate) humiliates his short-lived “legacy” even more.

what’s even better is that the first form of romantic love following the resurgence of the airbenders has developed between the granddaughter of the last airbender and the last waterbender of the southern water tribe, and an earth kingdom boy who starts off as a skilled thief. thus, it feels more than appropriate that (romantic) love returning to the airbenders stems from a lineage of interracial love between genocide survivors and warriors who were at the forefront of the 100 year war, fighting to restore peace and harmony and justice and balance back to the world.

Katara: “Please don't go, Aang. The world can't afford to lose you to the Fire Nation. Neither can I.”

Asami: “You don't need to apologize for anything. I'm just so happy you're here now. I don't think I could have handled losing you and my father in the same day.”

(credit to @kkachi95 for the art)

Katara: “I don’t think anyone meant for Cranefish Town to end up like this. No one was deliberately trying to make the worst city ever. It’s just different people trying to live their lives, fighting for their own piece of this place.”

Katara: “So remember your courage, earthbenders! Let us fight for our freedom!”

headcanon: in between the years of atla and lok, katara gets very invested in civic activism, and decides to travel the world helping and inspiring communities to grow and develop. in the northern and southern water tribes, she spends her time teaching everyone - both young girls and boys - about the advantages of healing, breaking down stereotypes that only girls should be allowed to heal. she also works alongside pakku to train the next generation of waterbenders. over time, when a ton of southern and northern watertribe residents move over to republic city, she oversees the training there and often helps out the cultural centre.

in cranefish town (soon to be republic city), she establishes the first ever hospital, equipped with a medical school that specializes in different types of physical and spiritual healing from all four nations (with aang’s help, she reintroduces healing techniques used by the air nomads). she also works alongside avatar aang and firelord zuko to help introduce laws that can help out impoverished communities not just in republic city, but also in parts of the earth kingdom, motivating the citizens to never lose their courage or hope in the face of adversary. she sets up shelters that provide food, water, medicine, clothing, and other essential items to civilians and refugees displaced by the war. with help from local earthbenders, she assists in building houses to communities.

Katara: “I’m honoured, Jiang! And I hope you’ll consider becoming law-abiding citizens once the war is over.”

Jiang: “We’ll see about that. But it might be time for me to retire. I’m getting too old for these little adventures. If you ever get tired of fighting besides the Avatar, there’s a job as a pirate waiting for you.”

maybe she even temporarily returns back to her pirating days along the way, working for a crew that travels across the world to distribute medical supplies and other equipment.

Toph: “Aang, Katara, and Sokka lived for all that political hoo-ha.” (Ruins of the Empire, part 2).

Sokka: “Simple. Girls are better at fixing pants than guys and guys are better at hunting and fighting and stuff like that. It's just the natural order of things.

much of the fandom’s focus on sokka’s sexism centers around his change, after he meets suki and she “literally beats the sexism out of him.” and while we definitely should celebrate just how much sokka has progressed as a character since book 1, no longer holding onto the sexist beliefs that he once did, there’s also very little attention and understanding given into why he developed those attitudes and perspectives in the first place. based solely on the amount of female waterbenders that fought in the south pole, we know that the southern water tribe did not hold the same traditional beliefs as the northern water tribe. so where - and why - did sokka develop the idea that it was natural for girls to not fight or that they were physically weaker?

Sokka: “Listen! Until your fathers return from the War, they're counting on you to be the men of this tribe, and that means no potty breaks!

after hakoda and the rest of the men left to fight in the war, sokka became the eldest male member in the south pole and, by default, the leader of the tribe. it fell upon a young sokka’s shoulders to protect his sister and the rest of the women and children of the tribe, and to train the next generation of soldiers who would follow their fathers into the war. as a result of the role that was enforced upon sokka from a young age, having seen the men of the tribe as an influence, sokka began to associate the identity of a “warrior” with “a man.” according to sokka, a warrior was someone who not only looked like his father, but who was also brave and strong and honourable, just like his father. it couldn’t be someone like his younger sister, who wanted to fight with her waterbending. she was one of the people that a warrior - like his father, and like the person that sokka wanted to be - had to protect.

Suki: “The silk threads symbolize the brave blood that flows through our veins. The gold insignia represents the honor of the warrior's heart.”

Sokka: [Proudly] “Bravery and honor.”

when sokka meets suki and painstakingly learns of the kyoshi warriors (through the number of times he is knocked down by suki), his viewpoint on what a warrior was and who a warrior could be begins to change and expand. when suki describes to him how the silk threads of the kyoshi warrior attire symbolize bravery, and how the gold insignia represents honour, two traits that are commonly associated with warriorhood and heroism, sokka straightens his back with great pride, no longer self-conscious of himself in that brief moment. just as he confidently wears the face paint in the second episode, sokka begins to allow himself to feel confident and brave and honourable in the kyoshi warrior dress. his perspective on the dress changes, and he starts to treat it as a uniform. he also starts to respect and understand suki for who she is: a warrior and a leader, teaching him how to fight.

Sokka: “I treated you like a girl when I should've treated you like a warrior.”

Suki: “I am a warrior. But I’m a girl, too.”

despite sokka’s personal attitudes toward suki changing, his perspective on what a warrior looks and sounds and dresses like doesn’t yet change. we see this when he apologizes for treating suki like a girl, instead of the fierce and determined warrior that she is and ought to be respected as. sokka still views being a girl and feminine as different from being a warrior. that’s why suki gently reminds him that these two traits - being a girl and being a warrior - aren’t as separate as he thinks they are. she’s a girl who happens to be a warrior and a warrior who happens to be a girl. she shouldn’t have to choose between the two, just like how a boy doesn’t ever need to choose.

katara 🤝 asami

a year after bumi ii is born, aang and katara take him to visit the kingdom of omashu to meet his namesake (assuming that bumi i is still alive). before they enter the palace, however, aang makes it an Important Priority to take their baby on the omashu delivery system, much to katara’s dismay (“oh come on, katara! tom-tom rode the delivery system when he was a baby, and he turned out fine!” “really, aang?? you’re using tom-tom as a standard for fine now?” meanwhile, momo has war flashbacks to the day that that toddler tried to kill him). after much begging, katara finally gives in and stands cautiously at the side as her husband and their first born slide across the chutes, laughing and squealing in delight. much to her surprise, bumi ii adores it. from then on, aang makes it a family tradition to take their children at least once on the chutes when visiting omashu, with katara joining along each time.

during korra’s era, 25 years after aang’s death, rohan, meelo, jinora, and ikki, along with the rest of their family, are visiting their grandmother in the southern water tribe. as katara prepares her grandkids tea, she listens to the plans they have of travelling to omashu. katara smiles to herself at their excitement, recalling her own set of memories of venturing the city with sokka, aang, and her children when she was younger.